Enchilasagna

Enchiladas, meet Lasagna. Lasagna, meet Enchiladas.

Earlier this week while preparing a dinner “by ear” (that is, without any idea what I was making), I learned that when the classic Mexican casserole meets up with an Italian favorite, you get a perfect match. The technique is simple: layer tortillas with tomato sauce, any kind of veggie fillings, chicken or black beans, and some cheese. Then just pop her in the oven and let her get all brown and bubbly and fragrant. Serve it up with a simple slaw salad and you’ve got a quick weeknight supper that combines two delicious ethnicities into one delicious dish. (The slaw salad pictured above is so simple: toss thinly sliced cabbage, grated carrot, thinly sliced onion, and a handful of sunflower seeds with a bit of olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and–the secret–a drizzle of honey. Taste it and adjust the seasonings if needed.)

I started my enchilasagna by making a simple tomato sauce with some leftover steamed broccoli thrown into it.

Then I layered the sauce with whole wheat tortillas (you could also try using brown rice tortillas for a gluten-free version), some shredded chicken meat, frozen corn kernels, a few black beans, and some shredded cheese.  Layer #1 is pictured below.

Repeat the layers one more time, top it off with another tortilla, some sauce, and a sprinkling of cheese. Pop it in the oven and twenty minutes later…presto! Enchilasagna!

I love meal planning, but I also love playing dinner by ear. You know, just throwing open the refrigerator door and letting whatever you’ve got stuffed in the crisper inspire that night’s dinner. Enchilasagna does just that. It’s a rough recipe–more of a method, actually–that leaves plenty of wiggle room for incorporating seasonal ingredients, family favorites, or just using up odds and ends in the fridge.

Feel free to take this recipe to all kinds of different levels. Make it vegetarian by using only beans and no chicken. Make it “taco style” by using ground beef or turkey seasoned with taco seasoning and swap in corn tortillas for the whole wheat ones. Go Greek by adding in olives, red onion slices, and using feta cheese instead of shredded cheddar or pepperjack. Let your creative juices flow!

My method is outlined below. This time of year, hearty casserole-type dishes sneak into my weekly dinners more and more. This one in particular is going to be fun to play around with as the days get shorter and the temps get cooler. On our first snowy day here in Wisconsin, you’ll know where to find me in the late afternoon hours. 

Yep. Smack dab in the kitchen fiddling around with old recipes and testing out new ones. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be whipping up another batch of this enchilasagna. It really is that good.

Enchilasagna

For the sauce:

1 tbs. olive oil

1/2 medium yellow onion

1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce 

1/4 cup spicy salsa (I used Muir Glen Organics brand)

1/2 tsp. EACH garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin

Salt to taste

Fillings:

Frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)

Black beans

Cooked chicken meat, shredded or chopped

Steamed vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower florets

Other Ingredients:

1/2 – 1 cup shredded cheese, any kind you like (I used “Mexican Blend” with pepperjack, cheddar, and colby)

3 (8-10 inch) whole wheat or brown rice tortillas

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400-degrees. To make the sauce, saute onion in olive oil until tender–about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer for 5-10 minutes to marry the flavors.

In a 9-10 inch pie plate, spread a few spoonfuls of the sauce. Place a tortilla on top. Top with half of your selected fillings, then a few more dollops of sauce and a light sprinkling of cheese. Repeat once more. Top the second layer with the third tortilla. Spread the whole thing with sauce and sprinkle with a few handfuls of cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned and bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley. Let rest a few minutes before serving.|Serves 3 hungry people or 4 not-too-hungry people.

(Note: this post is linked back to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.)